Kicking off December, a vast selection of movies is hitting theaters. Steffen Haars and Nick Frost’s family-thriller-comedy Get Away follows a family vacation in Sweden gone wrong. Amy Adams turns into a canine in Nightbitch. Justin Kurzel brings action to theaters with The Order starring Jude Law while Kyle Mooney brings back the early 2000s with Y2K. Marisa Crespo and Moisés Romera’s You Are Not Me turns family drama into horror. Jharrel Jerome is one-legged wrestler Anthony Robles in Unstoppable. Christmas trip turns into heartbreak in H. Nelson Tracey’s drama Breakup Season. Shea Whigham and Carrie Coon attempt to escape mobsters in Lake George. Magnus von Horn’s period drama captures post-WW1 Copenhagen in The Girl With the Needle. Lillah Halla’s Power Alley follows a teenage volleyball player and her struggle for women’s rights in Brazil. Ralph Fiennes is Odysseus in Uberto Pasolini’s The Return. Joshua Oppenheimer’s apocalyptic musical The End stars Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon, and documentary Sabbath Queen follows the story of a gay rabbi.
Movies in Theaters on Friday December 6, 2024
Get Away
Directed by: Steffen Haars
Starring: Nick Frost, Aisling Bea, Sebastian Croft, and Maisie Ayres
Looking forward to spending a vacation on the small Swedish island of Svälta, the Smith family is unsettled by the unfriendly mainlanders who advise them to avoid the island at all costs, especially during the Karantan festival. But the 4-member family is in deep need of some time away and stubbornly decides to take the ferry anyway.
On the island, the locals are rather rude and unwelcoming, and their behavior suggests that some big event is about to happen. Is it a cult? Is there a sacrifice in the works? Seemingly unbothered by so much discourtesy and drama, the family enjoys a swim in the sea, treks in the woods, and, oh, the silent isolation… which turns out to be a pretty perfect situation for the Smiths, who have special plans of their own.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 76%. Screen Rant: 7/10, Collider: 7/10.
Official Trailer:
Nightbitch
Directed by: Marielle Heller
Starring: Amy Adams, Scoot McNairy, Arleigh Snowden, Emmett Snowden, Mary Holland, Ella Thomas, Archana Rajan, and Jessica Harper
An artist who pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mum seeks a new chapter in her life and encounters just that, when her nightly routine takes a surreal turn and her maternal instincts begin to manifest in canine form.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 60%. AwardsWatch: B, IndieWire: B-.
Official Trailer:
The Order
Directed by: Justin Kurzel
Starring: Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult, Tye Sheridan, Jurnee Smollett, and Marc Maron
In 1983, a series of increasingly violent bank robberies, counterfeiting operations, and armored car heists frightens communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. As baffled law enforcement agents scrambled for answers, a lone FBI agent, stationed in the sleepy, picturesque town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, comes to believe the crimes are not the work of traditional, financially motivated criminals, but of a group of dangerous domestic terrorists, inspired by a radical, charismatic leader, plotting a devastating war against the federal government of the United States.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%. Guardian: 4/5, Entertainment Weekly: B.
Official Trailer:
Y2K
Directed by: Kyle Mooney
Starring: Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, Julian Dennison, The Kid Laroi, Alicia Silverstone, Tim Heidecker, and Fred Durst
On the last night of 1999, two high school juniors crash a New Years Eve party, only to find themselves fighting for their lives in this dial-up disaster comedy.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 48%. IndieWire: B+, Guardian: 3/5.
Official Trailer:
You Are Not Me
Directed by: Marisa Crespo and Moisés Romera
Starring: Roser Tapias, Pilar Almeria, Anna Kurikka, Álvaro Báguena, Victor Rodriguez Enguídanos, Pilar Martínez, Jorge Motos, Alfred Picó, and Yapoena Silva
Aitana returns home for the first time in three years, excited to introduce her wife and their adopted infant son to her extended family and celebrate Christmas together. The family villa in the Spanish countryside is exactly as she remembers – except for the addition of Nadia, a Romanian refugee who has claimed Aitana’s bedroom, her clothes, and her family heirlooms. Why have Aitana’s conservative parents, long suspicious of immigrants, embraced the mysterious Nadia with such uncharacteristic warmth? Is Nadia a shrewd usurper, or an unwitting vessel for darker forces spreading across the land? A twisty thriller that locates the uncanny in the reflexive cordiality of the holiday season, You Are Not Me is a dark and disturbing dispatch from the most irrational realm: family.
Review Summary:
AWFJ.org: 3/5, Dread Central: 4/5.
Official Trailer:
Unstoppable
Directed by: William Goldenberg
Starring: Jharrel Jerome, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Anthony Robles, Don Cheadle, and Jennifer Lopez
Unstoppable is the inspiring true story of Anthony Robles (Jharrel Jerome) who was born with one leg but whose indomitable spirit and unbreakable resolve empowered him to defy the odds and pursue his dreams. With the unwavering love and support of his devoted mother Judy (Jennifer Lopez) and the encouragement of his coaches, Anthony fights through adversity to earn a spot on the Arizona State Wrestling team. But it will demand everything he has, physically and mentally, to achieve his ultimate quest to become an NCAA Champion.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 77%. IndieWire: C, The AU Review: 3.5/5.
Official Trailer:
Breakup Season
Directed by: H. Nelson Tracey
Starring: Chandler Riggs, Samantha Isler, James Urbaniak, Brook Hogan, Carly Stewart, and Jacob Wysocki
Ben Russell (Chandler Riggs), an unemployed yet ambitious 24-year-old, brings his girlfriend Cassie (Samantha Isler) from Los Angeles to his rural Oregon hometown to meet his parents and siblings for the first time and spend Christmas with his family: his goofy dad Kirby (James Urbaniak), loving but stern mom Mia (Brook Hogan), aspiring vlogger younger sister Liz (Carly Stewart), and enigmatic deadbeat older brother Gordon (Jacob Wysocki).
The arrival is bumpy, and the family’s dynamic unearths some internal conflict Cassie is having with her relationship with Ben. A late night conversation between the couple turns into a breakup, and Cassie determines she should go home for Christmas after all. But due to the winter weather and remote rural location, Cassie learns she is unable to travel. She becomes stuck with her newly minted ex’s family for the rest of the holiday.
With a balance of comedy and drama, Breakup Season is an authentic look at early 20s love and heartbreak, with a holiday twist and added emphasis on the relationship that family plays into this dynamic.
Review Summary:
Loud and Clear Review: 4.5/5, Collider: 7/10.
Official Trailer:
Lake George
Directed by: Jeffrey Reiner
Starring: Shea Whigham, Carrie Coon, Max Casella, Glenn Fleshler, Ashley Fink, Troy Metcalf, Joey Oglesby, Derek Phillips, and Keri Safran
Tasked by mobsters with putting an end to Phyllis’ life, Don is unable to pull the trigger, and instead, the two set off on a road trip that evolves into something much more. Phyllis has designs of her own and proposes a little tag team action to Don: combine forces with the aim to steal all the money from the people who want her dead.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 94%. Cinema Daily US: B+, Next Best Picture: 5/10.
Official Trailer:
The Girl With the Needle
Directed by: Magnus von Horn
Starring: Vic Carmen Sonne, Trine Dyrholm, Besir Zeciri, Joachim Fjelstrup, Tessa Hoder, Avo Knox Martin, Anders Hove, and Ari Alexander
Karoline (Vic Carmen Sonne), a young factory worker, is struggling to survive in post-WW1 Copenhagen. When she finds herself unemployed, abandoned and pregnant, she meets Dagmar (Trine Dyrholm), a charismatic woman running an underground adoption agency, helping mothers to find foster homes for their unwanted children. With nowhere else to turn, Karoline takes on the role of a wet nurse. A strong connection is formed between the two women, but Karoline’s world shatters when she stumbles upon the shocking truth behind her work. Inspired by a true story and directed by Magnus von Horn (The Here After, Sweat) The Girl With the Needle is an unsettling tale about a woman struggling to find love and a sense of morality.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 90%. The Film Stage: B+, Time Out: 4/5.
Official Trailer:
Power Alley
Directed by: Lillah Halla
Starring: Ayomi Domenica Dias, Loro Bardot, Grace Passô, Gláucia Vandeveld, Rômulo Braga and Larissa Siqueira
Set in São Paulo, Power Alley follows Sofia, a spirited teen volleyball player from a modest background, whose life takes a dramatic turn when she faces an unplanned pregnancy. Against the backdrop of a conservative society, Sofia’s journey becomes a fight for autonomy and identity, supported by a diverse team that includes trans and non-binary teammates. The film explores themes of queer sisterhood and resilience, and the struggle for women’s rights.
Review Summary:
Guardian: 3/5, Film Threat: 7.5/10.
Official Trailer:
The Return
Directed by: Uberto Pasolini
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Charlie Plummer, Tom Rhys Harries, Marwan Kenzari, Claudio Santamaria, Ayman Al Aboud, Amir Wilson, Francesco Bianchi, Nicolas Retrivi, Bruno Cassandra, Cosimo Desii, Ángela Molina, and Stefano Santomauro
After 20 years away Odysseus (Fiennes) washes up on the shores of Ithaca, haggard and unrecognizable. The King has finally returned home but much has changed in his kingdom since he left to fight in the Trojan war. His beloved wife Penelope (Binoche) is now a prisoner in her own home, hounded by her many ambitious suitors to choose a new husband, a new king. Their son Telemachus (Plummer), who has grown up fatherless, is facing death at the hands of the suitors who see him as an obstacle in their relentless pursuit of Penelope and the kingdom. Odysseus has changed too. Scarred by his experience of war, he is no longer the mighty warrior his people remember. But he is forced to face his past in order to rediscover the strength needed to save his family and win back the love he has lost.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 79%. The Playlist: A-, Collider: 7/10.
Official Trailer:
The End
Directed by: Joshua Oppenheimer
Starring: Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George MacKay, and Moses Ingram
From Academy Award-nominated director Joshua Oppenheimer (The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence) comes a poignant and deeply human musical about a family that survived the end of the world.
Twenty-five years after environmental collapse left the Earth uninhabitable, Mother, Father and Son are confined to their palatial bunker, where they struggle to maintain hope and a sense of normalcy by clinging to the rituals of daily life—until the arrival of a stranger, Girl, upends their happy routine. Son, a naïve twenty-something who has never seen the outside world, is fascinated by the newcomer, and suddenly the delicate bonds of blind optimism that have held this wealthy clan together begin to fray. As tensions rise, their seemingly idyllic existence starts to crumble, with long-repressed feelings of remorse and resentment threatening to destroy the family’s delicate balance. But their reckoning with difficult truths also points to a different way forward, one based on acceptance, love, and a capacity for change.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 52%. IndieWire: A-, The Film Stage: A-.
Official Trailer:
Sabbath Queen (Documentary)
Directed by: Sandi Dubowski
Sabbath Queen follows Amichai Lau-Lavie, an Israeli descended from an unbroken line of 38 rabbis stretching back a thousand years. Yet as the film opens, Lau-Lavie is newly arrived in New York in the late 1990s, a young gay man declaring “Artists are the new rabbis” and appearing around the city in drag as Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross, the widow of six Hasidic rabbis (all from the same extended family). As the years pass, Lau-Lavie embraces a range of creative spiritual endeavors, including Storahtelling and Lab/Shul—until he shocks everyone with his decision to become a rabbi himself, studying in the Conservative tradition of Judaism.
Review Summary:
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%. Awards Buzz: 8/10, IndieWire: B.
Official Trailer:
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